


Far from home

by zeafters



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Alternate Universe - Space, Ambiguous/Open Ending, End of the World, Friendship, M/M, Mars, Not Beta Read, One Shot, POV Third Person, Sad?, Sci-Fi, Writing Exercise, taeyong is an android
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-06 19:48:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16839223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeafters/pseuds/zeafters
Summary: Every time T.Y.'s fingers begin to lose grip, Yoonoh holds onto them even tighter and pulls him in even closer.





	Far from home

**Author's Note:**

> honestly i wrote this all in, i'm guessing, 30-some minutes, so it's probably really rough. i've been trying to get back into writing though, so any bit of progress counts! hope you enjoy :)

YOONOH's FINGER gently doodles a mindless web on the butterscotch dirt in front of him. Before he realizes it, his entire hand is smoothing over the surface. He grasps onto a clump of the dirt and sifts them between his fingers, fine particles cascading like a waterfall of sand back to the ground. His once white glove was now speckled golden-beige. He's simply fascinated.

"T.Y., run a brief analysis on the composition of martian soil for me, please." He tells his companion. When no reply reaches him, however, he looks up from his hand to find that the android is no longer seated beside him. Yoonoh pushes himself up with a sigh, fruitlessly dusts off the accumulated dirt on his butt, and sets off to find the robot boy. It takes only a quick scan of the horizon for him to see his friend's silhouette outlined by the sun.

Yoonoh makes his way towards T.Y. and stands beside him. He watches the sun's surface bubble and burst every few seconds. He imagined them to be its dying breaths. His eyes follow the flares it sends out, what he wants to believe to be messages it's sending to the inhabitants of the universe. Messages that are incredibly bright with hope and filled with secrets; stories yearning to be told, but have yet to find someone who speaks the same tongue. If it weren't for the highly-effective screen dimmers their stolen suits were equipped with, they would surely be blind by now.

"Jae..." He hears his friend whisper hoarsely over the intercom. He turns to face him, and all the excitement bubbling within him ceases.

Robots don't experience emotions, not in the same way humans do. Yoonoh knows this for a fact, and yet T.Y.'s expression is too painful - too _real_ \- he can't bring himself to believe it. The android is struggling to keep his lips from quivering and his perfectly dry eyes are frantically searching Yoonoh's own. (For what? He couldn't even guess). A million emotions are written in the knot between his eyebrows: worry, panic, sorrow, anguish, guilt—longing. All Yoonoh can do is stare at him.

"I want to go home," T.Y. croaks.

//

The two journey back to camp, their feet heavy from both the suits and their moods. They're holding each other's hands. Every time T.Y.'s fingers begin to lose grip, Yoonoh holds onto them even tighter and pulls him in even closer. The walk back is silent, save for the android's low, constant mumbling of _I want to go home_ 's that pushes Yoonoh to walk faster.

He is ~~angry~~ ~~furious~~ livid with himself. He should not have brought T.Y. with him. He should not have roped him into this mess. The robot had told Yoonoh he wanted to stay on earth, hadn't he? That he wanted to die with the planet, that he was going to die soon anyway. But Yoonoh was too selfish to let him, too self-righteous and blinded by his own intentions to respect his only friend's wishes.

"Only a couple more metres," Yoonoh says encouragingly, but T.Y. is slowing down with each step. Yoonoh can hear him taking longer, deeper, slower breaths through the intercom until the android stops moving completely. His hand is frozen, clasping onto Yoonoh's tightly.

//

The same pained expression from before is plastered on T.Y.'s face, even as Yoonoh lays his body down in his capsule.

He brushes off a spot of dirt T.Y. managed to get on his screen. He looks at the transferred soil on his thumb in disgust.

He needs to find a way home.


End file.
